


How to Care For Your Werewolf

by honey_wheeler



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-05
Updated: 2011-08-05
Packaged: 2017-10-22 05:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/234539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honey_wheeler/pseuds/honey_wheeler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set sometime during New Moon. Bella doesn't realize how much she touches Jacob when he's a wolf. Relatedly, Jacob has been spending more time as a wolf around Bella. Discussion is had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Care For Your Werewolf

In hindsight, it wasn't the best time to start a private conversation. Of course, I hadn't expected it to _become_ a private conversation. And it's not like anything I say to Jacob stays private for long these days. The second he wolfs out, every other member of the pack knows exactly what's in his head, and this is the sort of thing that would be right there on top. Knowing they'll find out sooner or later is a lot easier than having them in the room at the time, though.

"You've been spending a lot of time as a wolf around me, Jake." It had seemed like such an innocent observation. Something I could have said in front my father, if my father were allowed to know about the fur and fangs thing. Should have been no big deal, right?

Wrong.

Quil snickered immediately. It was that boy sort of snicker, the one you hear from the guys in your gym class when the teacher lines you up facing each other and tells you to do jumping jacks. I had to stop myself from crossing my arms over my chest instinctively.

"Quil," Sam barked - I know it seems like I'm taking the wolf analogies a little far, but there was no other word for it - and Quil ducked his head, sheepish. I looked over at Jake, and it had to be said, he looked pretty sheepish himself.

"You seemed comfortable with it. I didn't think it'd be a problem." He stared off to the side when he said it, looking towards me instead of at me. I resisted the urge to wave my hand in his face and say, _yoohoo, over here!_

"It's not a problem. I'd just noticed it lately, that's all." I could feel my brow knitting in confusion, not so much at Jake as at the reactions of the rest of the pack. I felt like there was something bigger I was missing, something just out of focus.

"He really likes it when you scratch behind his ears," Quil said, and there was that snicker again, from all of them this time except Sam, who frowned in disapproval, and Jake, who somehow managed to blush, even with his dark skin. He looked like he wished the floor would open up and swallow him. Quil knew because Jake had been thinking about it and Jake had been thinking about it because he... It clicked into focus then.

"Oh," I said. I suddenly felt flushed and embarrassed, like I'd been caught doing something I shouldn't have been doing.

"It wasn't, like, some secret scheme or anything!" Jake was protesting. He glared daggers at Paul and Quil, who were laughing out loud by then. "I was just... I was..."

"You were using your wolf form to get me to touch you? Jake, that's kind of gross." I sounded way calmer than I felt. Sometimes the deadpan thing works in my favor.

"If you think that's gross, you should hear the stuff he was thinking," Seth said, making a face.

"Oh my god." Not so calm anymore. My cheeks were burning hot.

"Seth, shut the hell up!" Jake shouted.

"Why don't you take Bella for a walk, Jacob?" Emily suggested, deftly stepping in front of Seth when Jake looked like he might throw something at him. I seized the opportunity gratefully, bolting past all of them and out the front door. Why couldn't I be a normal girl with normal problems?

He caught up with me a few yards from the house. I didn't look over, but I could sense him there just behind me, even though his steps were so soft I could barely hear him. I kept going until I hit a small clearing in the trees, where the sunlight filtered down through the pines in hazy stripes. He moved past me and stared up at the branches like they had the answers to all of life's questions. Now that we were out of the house and away from the others, it didn't seem so bad. In fact, it seemed kind of funny. I couldn't help laughing a little. Jacob didn't turn to face me, but some of the tension seemed to go out of his shoulders.

"So are we gonna be all awkward about this?" he said finally, breaking the silence. I searched my heart for an honest answer.

"No," I decided. "I mean, unless there's something else I'm not getting and you're not telling me."

"Nope," he said, glancing back at me over his shoulder. "It's all on the table now." Then he grinned at me and took off running.

"What? Jake!" Before I could decide whether to follow him or go back to the house or just stand there like a moron, he transformed mid-stride, exploding into his wolf form in front of my eyes. Even though I'd seen it before, it was still something of a shock. I couldn't imagine it ever becoming routine, even if I saw it a million times.

"Will you come back here?" I hollered. He was tearing around through the underbrush like a toddler on a sugar high, all nerves and energy. No way I could run fast enough to keep up with him. I'd twist an ankle before I went three steps anyway. He loped back towards me, looking almost like he was still grinning. "A little more slowly, please. Some of us only have two feet." The sound he made might have been laughter, if wolves could laugh.

We walked through the trees together, his sure feet picking out a smooth trail for my clumsy ones. Like I didn't feel graceless enough when I was around him in his human form. Ballet didn't seem to do any good, but maybe if I took up yoga...

When we hit the beach, he shot out in front of me, heading straight for a cluster of seagulls on the sand. With a fluid bound, he pounced, startling them into flight. I sat cross-legged on the sand and watched as he snapped at the air like an overgrown puppy. He probably could have caught one if he'd actually wanted to. Once they'd all dispersed, he sat back on his haunches and gave a short, satisfied bark.

"If you ever bring me a dead bird like Jessica's cat does, I'm out of here," I warned him when he trotted back to me. He snorted and flopped onto the sand, his big shoulder against my side. As always, it was like being next to a space heater. I stole a glance over at him. He was panting contentedly, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he watched the gulls wheeling above. Funny how he was still good company this way, even if the conversation was lacking.

"You've got a burr." Tough for a wolf, but a simple enough matter for human hands. I gently disentangled it from his fur and held it out for his inspection. He sniffed it and exhaled, his breath warm and heavy on my hands. I pitched the burr out into the waves. Without really thinking about it, I dropped my hand back onto his neck. Then, remembering the whole conversation that lead us out here, I froze. He acted like he didn't notice, but I could feel his sudden stillness. He liked it when I scratched behind his ears, I remembered Quil saying. Well. What the hell.

I'd done this before, but it had always been unthinking. Only now did I really pay attention to the texture of his coat, the coarse outer layer hiding the soft, fine underfur. I threaded my fingers through his ruff, scratching my nails against his skin. A rumble from his chest vibrated through my hand and up my arm. If he were a cat, I'd swear he was purring. There was an extra soft spot, just beneath his ear, and I rubbed my thumb against it. Too late, I remembered how sensitive that spot beneath my own ear was. I could actually see his skin tighten in response, the fur on along his spine rippling and standing on end. My stomach took a sharp swoop and I snatched my hand back like I'd been burned. Jake probably would have loved it if I'd scratched him for a few more hours, but I think he could tell that I'd hit my limit for the moment. He pushed to his feet, respectfully waiting until I stood and walked up the beach a ways before shaking the sand out of his coat.

When we got back to the house, he disappeared around the corner of the porch. I realized he must have spare clothes tucked away somewhere for when he changed back. I flushed, turning away and staring at the trees, even though I couldn't see him from where I was. The fact that I'd just been _petting_ him was blaring in my mind like a car alarm. Add to that the fact that he was currently naked about five feet from me and that petting him in _that_ form would be another story altogether and that everyone currently in the house would be getting a brain full about all of this later, and, well. It was a lot for one afternoon.

"So...I better get home," I said when he'd emerged in his customary cut-offs and a t-shirt that he'd probably put on for my sake more than his own.

"Sure," he said. "See you whenever." He said it casually, but I could hear the effort behind it. His smile was heartbreakingly tentative. I hesitated, not sure exactly what to say but knowing I needed to say _something_. The line between reassuring him and leading him on seemed more like a tightrope than ever.

"Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Just so you know, if you ever roll over for me to scratch your belly, we're through." His face split into a wicked grin.

"As a wolf or a human?" he asked, and then he bolted into the house and shut the door before I could punch him in the shoulder like he so richly deserved.


End file.
